I have been involved in putting on an amateur production of Oscar Wilde's "An Ideal Husband" over these past few months. There are many themes being talked about throughout the play but, naturally, the political question that is raised in the play interests me immensely.
I wonder...is it possible to have a leader of men who has not compromised? If a leader has compromised, can he still be a good leader? Must a leader have the ambition to become the leader? Does that ambition translate into grasping for power that is not properly due to you? Power is a tricky thing...It exists, and a select few wield it. If you are a good man, but cannot get power without compromise, should you still try to get power? What about all the good you could do once you were in power--would that be negated by the initial sin it took to put you into a place that has power? Does political right and wrong boil down to the lesser of two evils? Does a political life involve sacrificing to maintain the ability to lead? If so, does that necessitate making certain sacrifices of one's personal beliefs in order to lead the nation at large? Does one indiscretion ruin a man for all practical purposes?
If so...why have a government at all? If not...what does that say about what we believe about right and wrong?
Its the craziest thing in the world to be immersed in Oscar Wilde's thoughts, and find yourself in Plato's Republic.
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7 comments:
My teacher is smart and wonderful. Also a very good actor, the quality of those, "yes sir'"!
:)
Mary Kate
I would rather be right than be President.
-Henry Clay
Ah, but does being right matter if you're not president?
Of course it "does matter" but I wonder if we can be content to be models of the ideal and never lead, when with some compromise we could attain power and possibly do some good?
I would tend to want to believe that God is a God that can accomplish the impossible--even so far to believe that there can be a good man at the top. So perhaps the question isn't must we accept compromise in our leaders, but how much longer will we accept compromise in ourselves to the detriment of our eternal souls?
Indeed.
Hurrah for Mary Kate on the blogosphere--even my little slice of it. :) Glad you enjoyed it, Miss Reynolds.
Like I said, I have a book that I didn't like, but I think you would like and I would like you to like it, that deals with this topic. It's premise is that servant leadership, a la Jesus-style, would result in being the most efficient, honored leader.
Heheh! :) I would never of course be so insane as to actually post a blog though ! Can you imagine how bad it would be looking back?? :) But you really need to Blog more. anything has to be better than reading our precis, checkity!
MKR :) Miss Reynolds :)
Well said. It is better to please God than the whole world.
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